Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams

There are always places in the world where folks live and work the whole year through but that are so attractive that the more affluent came come during their most beautiful seasons, temporarily make them their own and that pack their bags and go away. The mountains in winter bring the ski chalet people, lakes in summer bring the cottage and boat people and islands in the sun bring them, too. Generation after generation they come, interact but don't MIX with the locals, sometimes pal around with the young ones, if they are attractive enough and then go away and forget it all until the next season. These seasonal folks think of the place as much theirs as that of the locals, sometimes even more theirs and in many ways lord their ownership over the ones they leave behind. And sometimes, especially among the young, romance blooms and even a true love. Both of them know that it is a summer thing but once in awhile the love is real and the romance continues although as secretly as possible. And sometimes that love leads to secrets and unhappiness and causes tragedy that ripples out through families, relationships and the years. This is such a story and it is written in such a compelling way, alternating back and forth from the earliest onset of new young love to the years after and back again. There is mystery for all the secrets are not revealed at once and the reader turns the pages rapidly hoping to find them. And like an onion or the tissue paper surrounding a shiny new toy, the author uncovers each bit, slowly, increasing the desire in the reader for the revelations. Some are euphoric, some sad, some tragic, some surprising, others inevitable but in the end, when all the pieces are out there, resolution and the hope for happiness. Read the book until the wee hours, slept a bit and woke up to finish it. Haven't done that with a book for a long time!